Spanish Republican Army Organization

[mhl67]

So an issue with Libertad. The typical battlegroup is supposed to be a regiment. The problem is that the Spanish Popular Army was organized on the basis of "Mixed Brigades" which didn't have regiments. Instead they had 4 battalions directly subordinate to a brigade. So what should be the battlegroup then? Should it be the Batallion or the Brigade, or else some fictional element in-between?

[Big Insect]

So an issue with Libertad. The typical battlegroup is supposed to be a regiment. The problem is that the Spanish Popular Army was organized on the basis of "Mixed Brigades" which didn't have regiments. Instead they had 4 battalions directly subordinate to a brigade. So what should be the battlegroup then? Should it be the Batallion or the Brigade, or else some fictional element in-between?

It's a matter of scale primarily.
You can organize your SPA as a "Mixed Brigade" with an overall Brigade commander as your CO, and each of the 4 battalions led by an HQ. You can then have lower CV HQs as the lower ranked commanders in each battalion. I no longer have the OOB info that I used to construct the Libertad! lists, due to a computer melt-down, but I'll see if I can find one (or if you had one could you post an example here?) and we can work something out.
Thanks
Mark

[mhl67]

It's a matter of scale primarily.
You can organize your SPA as a "Mixed Brigade" with an overall Brigade commander as your CO, and each of the 4 battalions led by an HQ. You can then have lower CV HQs as the lower ranked commanders in each battalion. I no longer have the OOB info that I used to construct the Libertad! lists, due to a computer melt-down, but I'll see if I can find one (or if you had one could you post an example here?) and we can work something out.
Thanks
Mark

That's pretty much what I had figured if the standard battlegroup was a regiment.


There's the idealized organization here; It also shows that the battalions were composed of 4 rifle companies whereas the lists seem to assume 3 per batallion since it only allows 9 platoons of an infantry type whereas the Japanese are allowed 12. I'm sort of unclear as well why only 3 conscripts are allowed per battalion? Though as noted this as an idealized organization so I was unsure if the 9 platoons was reflective of the Mixed Brigades being understrength.


Unrelated but I noticed an error in the description of the UGT/PSUC. The UGT wasn't a political party but rather the main trade union of socialists and communists. The PSUC was the merged Socialist and Communist parties of Catalonia; it never merged with the UGT.

[Big Insect]

My understanding was that the 4th conscript battalion was used as a reserve, for training new recruits and covering leave and those who were sick, and was often heavily understrength. So it was only ever fielded in extremis and in defense. But happy to be told I was wrong.

I'll check the into regarding the UGT. Thanks
Mark

[mhl67]

My understanding was that the 4th conscript battalion was used as a reserve, for training new recruits and covering leave and those who were sick, and was often heavily understrength. So it was only ever fielded in extremis and in defense. But happy to be told I was wrong.

I'll check the into regarding the UGT. Thanks
Mark

I'm not an expert on how the Mixed Brigades were actually deployed, so you're probably correct on that issue, I was just going off the idealized schema.

[mhl67]

Another question I have: why do the Basque Police have a Guerrilla doctrine? I'm again not especially familiar with them but I wasn't sure why this was.

[Big Insect]

Another question I have: why do the Basque Police have a Guerrilla doctrine? I'm again not especially familiar with them but I wasn't sure why this was.

Because that's the closest I could actually get to the way they ended up operating, within the Tac Docs in BKC 

[mhl67]

Because that's the closest I could actually get to the way they ended up operating, within the Tac Docs in BKC 

Did they actually operate significantly definitely than the other government paramilitaries during the war?

[Big Insect]

Did they actually operate significantly definitely than the other government paramilitaries during the war?

They appear to have done so.
Using hit & run tactics and also using guerilla methodology or a more partisan type approach, particularly in a counter insurgency situation.
These things are, of course, very subjective. And this is just my interpretation from what I've read.
Others may know or think differently.